Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the opportunity to join the debate today on mandatory reporting.

As you know, Bill 130, a bill I introduced last year, in November, will be up for debate on April 23. In that, it calls for a series of provisions to enhance child protection measures in this province. One of the recommendations stemmed from the work that my colleague Joyce Savoline, the MPP for Burlington, had done with respect to certain abuses on school grounds. I included mandatory reporting because of the hard work she had done.

This bill is a disservice to the work that Joyce Savoline has done. It doesn't go far enough. Our concern is that the Liberals, in their rush to quiet us down on this side, don't do the work and the research and the proper drafting to move forward.

Several times in this chamber, Mrs. Savoline has brought forward the concerns of parents in this province. On many of those occasions, Mrs. Savoline actually had parents here, some of whom were also teachers, talking about their concerns for their children on school grounds. While drafting the Children's Safety and Protection Rights Act, 2008-Bill 130, as it's known-I found that she was so compelling that I included it as one of the nine measures in my bill. I'm hoping that bill will receive support from all three parties and that the Liberals won't be whipped to vote it down because it's not their own. I am pleased, however, that on a few occasions they have seemed to move on some of the initiatives.

Let's get back to the issue at hand, and that is mandatory reporting. Mrs. Savoline has encouraged the minister to move forward and to move faster. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, but I still applaud Mrs. Savoline's efforts for bringing this to our attention.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It's a pleasure to be able to again address this mandatory reporting bill. As I mentioned previously, I have a bill, Bill 130, before the Legislature. It is called the Children's Safety and Protection Rights Act, 2008. Among other things, it calls for mandatory reporting and amending the Education Act. Of course, that initiative came forward through my good colleague the MPP from Burlington, Ms. Joyce Savoline, who forcefully fought in this Legislature for us to take such actions.

Among the other initiatives-there are nine initiatives-some will amend the consumer services act, others the Education Act and two other initiatives. One is expanding the mandate of the independent child advocate; the other is expanding the mandate of the Ombudsman Act so that they may have more direct involvement in advocating and reporting to the ministers on how children are treated in our hospitals, our education system and through the children's aid societies in Ontario.

It also calls for something that child advocates have been calling for for some time now, which is dedicating November 20 as the provincial day of the child. Mr. Speaker, you know that November 20, worldwide and here in Canada, is known as the International Day of the Child. I think we ought to recognize that here in Ontario's Legislature. I think we also ought to recognize that in Ontario schools.

So, on April 23, I'll be looking for support from all of my colleagues in this chamber supporting me and our quest in the opposition in better protecting Ontario's children. But then, of course, I'd like to again thank my colleague from Burlington for the tremendous work she's doing on behalf of Ontario's children.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: It's always a pleasure to enter the debate on the mandatory reporting bill. Of course, it is the third time I've had an opportunity to address this bill today, and not a lot has changed from speaker to speaker. Again, as my good colleague from Thornhill pointed out, it always gives me an opportunity to talk about the legislation I put forward on November-

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the mandatory reporting bill and talk about my vision and passion, as it was included in the previous bill that I tabled before this Legislature in November, which will be debated on April 23, 2009, discussing mandatory reporting. Of course, we all know, as I have indicated in this chamber several times, this initiative has been brought forward based on the great work that my colleague Joyce Savoline has done for the children of this province.

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Of course, mandatory reporting is something that we have been calling for in the official opposition, and through the great work that my colleague Joyce Savoline has done, many people have been here in this chamber working to see a solution to the problem of bullying and other challenges our children are facing on school property.

We have some concerns with this legislation. I look forward to discussing this legislation tomorrow with my caucus colleagues in the official opposition under the great leadership of Joyce Savoline, the MPP for Burlington. Of course, I look forward, again, to discussing mandatory reporting on April 23, 2009, when we discuss Bill 130.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the opportunity to yet again speak to Bill 157, the Education Amendment Act (Keeping Our Kids Safe at School). Mr. Speaker, as you know, I think that we should be keeping all the kids safe in Ontario.

Interjections.

The Deputy Speaker (Mr. Bruce Crozier): Order.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I appreciate the reaction I'm getting from the members of the government. I know they're as excited to address this piece of legislation as I am.

I must admit that this is something that we have been working on in this chamber as the official opposition, so we look forward to working with the government to ensure that the appropriate process is put in place by which parents and educators will be able to properly notify one another when a child needs help.

I will say, though, that this legislation isn't exactly what we had in mind for mandatory reporting, or what we have been calling for. At this point, without substantive amendments, it won't help to protect Ontario's students any more than they are today. We would like to see any abuse incidents that take place at school reported unequivocally to the parent of the victim and the police. That's exactly what Bill 130 calls for, the Children's Safety and Protection Rights Act, 2008, which I put forward in November of last year. Unfortunately, the bill before us is much weaker than the provision contained in Bill 130, which will be debated on April 23.

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Now, just because you're calling for mandatory reporting, that doesn't solve the problem. My colleague from Oshawa pointed that out earlier. We have real problems on our school grounds, and I think it goes without saying that just because a protocol is introduced, that doesn't mean that it is the same as it would be as if it were the law. This simply requires teachers to report violence to the principal, who would then report it to the parents but not to police. I don't have to remind this chamber of the horrific story brought forward by the MPP from Burlington as well as the MPP from Whitby-Oshawa on an issue-I think, a very severe issue-which occurred on school grounds in my seatmate's riding.

Ontario students and their parents deserve better. They deserve the proper protections. Our party raised the issue of mandatory reporting last summer with regard to a number of serious incidents taking place on public school grounds in which the principal was aware of the incident, but in these cases deliberately neglected to contact the police. That's why we in the official opposition believe that this bill, Bill 157, should contain the same strength that Bill 130 does in dealing with mandatory reporting. This bill will bring in mandatory reporting of incidents by teachers to principals, which is already a procedure, but would not require the principal to phone police. The government is deliberately using this language of "mandatory reporting" so that the press and the public will believe they are solving the issue and that they have resolved the issues that this party, the official opposition, has raised in the province of Ontario.

Also, this bill would amend the Education Act to explicitly say that the principal is not required to even notify the parents of a victimized pupil if it, "in the opinion of the principal doing so ... is not in the pupil's best interests," regardless of age. I have a problem with that. I think that we need to be very clear. I think a parent knows what's best for their child. There's no other arbiter in this chamber, nor in any other classroom, who can say what is best for the child of a parent. I speak as a mother myself. What I'm concerned about and what this means is that the case of the young Muslim pupil who was sexually assaulted by a gang of five at C.W. Jefferys, which was uncovered as a result of the Falconer report, would not have been impacted by the passing of this bill. That's quite serious. I'm glad that the chamber has quieted. But the incident that happened at C.W. Jefferys and that was reported in the Falconer report needs to be addressed. It means that children whom we ought to be protecting, and giving their parents and the police more tools, won't be addressed in this, and I think it would be very relevant at committee that that be addressed. The principal and vice-principals would still have been able to claim in that particular case to have acted in the pupil's best interests by not reporting the incident.

On March 4, a six-year-old grade 1 student was assaulted in a washroom of a York region Catholic school by two 13-year-old students. Although the principal was made aware of the assault, she did not report it to parents. The parents found out about this from the boy's sister, who attends the same school. The six-year-old boy had been beaten with a belt. When the parents confronted the principal and asked if she would contact the police, the principal said no and that she had no intention of reporting the matter. The parents called the police, who have charged the two 13-year-old boys with assault and assault with a weapon. This is happening in our schools here in Ontario.

On June 11, 2008, my colleague the member for Newmarket-Aurora, Frank Klees, brought the issue to the Premier's attention in the Legislature after his attempts to have the issue dealt with at the school to the satisfaction of the parents who were affected were rebuffed by the school board, at that school board level. Mr. Klees was then contacted by the parents when they realized that no one at the local level was taking up their case. The Child and Family Services Act of Ontario states that child abuse at the hands of a parent or a person in authority must be reported to the police or the CAS, but there is no legal requirement to report abuse or violence at the hands of another student. That's a serious flaw in the legislation.

Again, I think there is room for improvement in this legislation. My colleague the MPP from Burlington has brought forward some very serious issues in this chamber on student-on-student violence that need to be addressed. I feel privileged to be able to debate this very important legislation today. I feel honoured that so many child advocate groups have endorsed my bill, Bill 130, to ensure that there are more protections in place for children in this province than there are today, after that bill will be passed, hopefully, with the support of my colleagues and all sides of this chamber.

But as I draw to a close, I want to encourage the minister to look at this legislation and to make it as strong as it possibly can be, because I believe, as do my colleagues in the official opposition, that mandatory reporting by principals or other educators to police will help us prevent more abuses on school grounds.

Please accept my thanks for the opportunity to debate Bill 157, and I look forward to hearing questions and comments.